The nurse is in.

The perfect January 1st

After a very late night last night (for the parents, that is), the kids woke up at 6:30 this morning. Ouch. But, Bean was in a great mood most of the day and Little Man was sharing well (not his usual hoarding self) and he even obeyed at the mall. Wow! I felt like the parent of the year.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, hubbs took me out to a bookstore after the kids went to bed (in-laws are built-in babysitters now). That alone was a treat. As we were sitting in Barnes & Noble – him looking over a Learn German in 10 minutes a day book, me flipping through Stirring It Up (the fascinating story of Stonyfield Farm’s quest to make money while making a positive impact on the earth) – there seemed to be some commotion behind us. As it turns out, the very first (and not unlikely last) snowfall of the winter was coming in flurries just outside the window. We grabbed our things, but by the time we got down the escalator and past the check-outs, the snow had stopped. We got in the car to make our way home, and as we drove there seemed to be little ‘pockets’ where the flurries were coming fast and furious, almost as if someone had thrown a few buckets of snow down in just that one spot.

Of course, here we are in Georgia. The middle of the Bible belt. As southern as you can get without going to Florida (which honestly isn’t southern at all). So you can be sure it didn’t stick. But there’s something magical about snow falling, especially when it isn’t accompanied by shoveling the walks and digging your car out of it. And to have that magical first snowfall on January 1st – it brought good tidings for the new year.

Snow rocks. I find it’s best when you have a stocked pantry (by stocked, I mean plenty of chocolate and anything salty), and you can “work from home” in your wooly socks and fleece jammies. Not that I do that or anything. I’m just saying.